Pa. USF Review Mustn't Be 'Piecemeal,' Commissioner Says

A possible Pennsylvania USF review must be comprehensive, said Commissioner John Coleman at a livestreamed Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission meeting Thursday. Commissioners voted 5-0 for an order setting a Pennsylvania USF budget and surcharge for 2023 (docket M-00001337). The PUC will increase the USF surcharge to 2.53% of 2021 average monthly intrastate retail revenue, from 2.13% of 2020 average revenue, an increase of about 19%, the order said. The fund administrator says the contribution base may need to be expanded due to continuing declines in the base and annual reported revenue, which caused increases to the surcharge, noted Coleman. “Any review of the fund should not be done on a piecemeal basis” or “limited to the contribution base alone.” Commissioner Ralph Yanora agreed. Also at the meeting, commissioners voted 5-0 to approve a settlement with Lumen’s CenturyLink in an investigation into alleged outages and unreliable service (see 2209150025). The telco agreed to pay a $45,000 civil penalty and implement remedial measures including a quality assurance program and required public service announcements to educate the public on how to report damaged facilities (docket M-2022-3028754).